Isn't all sea salt the same?

© Viktorfischer | Dreamstime.com

Salt was once valued as a form of currency as it was scarce and considered a luxury of the rich. The ancient Greeks used salt to trade for slaves and Roman soldiers were paid in “salt money” or “salarium argentum” where we derive the word, “salary”. Homer called it “Divine”. Jesus calls His followers the “salt of the earth”. Wars have been fought and whole settlements turned into nations over the pursuit of salt.

Common salt, or sodium chloride, is the chemical compound NaCl. Salt occurs naturally in many parts of the world as the mineral halite and as mixed evaporites in salt lakes. The best source of salt is seawater. For all intensive purposes, all salt is some blend of mostly sodium combined with other minerals and impurities.

Areas that produce specialized sea salt include:

• Cayman Islands (Caribbean sea salt)
• Colombia (Salinas de Manaure) 
• Greece
• France  
• Ireland 
• Italy (Apulia, Romagna, Sardinia, Sicily)
• South Korea (Docho, South Korean Sea Salt Farm)
• United Kingdom (Maldon, Essex)
• United States (Hawaii, Maine, Utah, the San Francisco Bay, and Cape Cod)
• Canada (Nova Scotia, British Columbia) 
• Philippines 
• Israel (Dead Sea) 
• Japan 
• Mexico (Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur) 
• Brazil

Have you ever used sea salts from other locales? What was your experience?

Allison B. Kontur

www.BathBodySupply.com